NH: Isobel Redmond resigns

Trust me if you know the history of the SA Libs, they're much worse. A joke of a party that goes through leaders at a rate of knots as the factions asert themselves. I've lost count how many times they've snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.

It was always likely to happen as Isobel's detractors simply would not stop undermining her. This is despite the fact there is no viable alternative yet. Hamilton-Smith appears to have too many enemies. Steve Marshall has privately said he doesn't think he is ready yet. While Downer seemed happy enough to allow some in the party to use him as a stalking horse he doesn't appear willing to step into the breach. Result is that Marshall is probably going to have to throw himself in the deep end and Weatherill's chances of winning the next election have never been better!

Unfortunately for her, her PR machine was not very well oiled. If you compare her to Rann there was no comparison. Rann had an army of PR advisors and played to the camera - after all his background was in this area. Even a Premier like Dunstan had a good PR machine.

With swinging voters making up their minds in the last week of an election campaign PR is the key to success. Leaders with a polished PR machine are more likely to win an election, regardless of policy.

Weatherill is not a flamboyant Premier by any means and his monotone voice is annoying, but he has a good "cleanskin" image, almost boring, which works well with voters. No risk of credit card misdemeanours. Isobel Redmond's replacement would be well advised to ensure their PR machine is working overtime.

It's hard for state pollies to do much other than tinker around the edges. The Feds have all the money so they're the ones who set all the major long term policies. State govt's have most of their money locked into the provision of non- negotiable services like hospitals, law and order, education.

Would love to see a set share of income tax go direct to states so they can fund their own responsibilities instead of the Feds getting it all and doling it out like its a food drop in Africa!